Narrator:
0:03

Welcome to Literacy Talks, the podcast for literacy leaders and champions everywhere. Brought to you by Reading Horizons. Literacy Talks is the place to discover new ideas, trends, insights, and practical strategies for helping all learners reach reading proficiency. Our hosts are Stacy Hurst, a professor at Southern Utah University and chief academic advisor for Reading Horizons; Donell Pons, a recognized expert and advocate in literacy, dyslexia, and special education; and Lindsay Kemeny, an elementary classroom teacher, author, and speaker. Now let's talk literacy.

Stacy Hurst:
0:46

Welcome to this episode of Literacy Talks. I'm so excited to start this season, and I think we've done this most every season, right, guys? We're starting with our back to school episode, and it is very fitting that Lindsay is going to lead this discussion because Lindsay starts school sooner than I do, and Donell never really ends school, so we have the beginning of the year for Lindsay. So, Lindsay, I'll just turn the time over to you, and and let's

Lindsay Kemeny:
1:19

talk. Yes, okay, happy back to school season. This is an exciting time. I know it's like mixed emotions, right? Because some of us maybe aren't ready, or you know, maybe it's a little like I feel like I'm always a little sad that summer is ending. At the same time, I'm really excited for a new year and meet my students and all the things. So as summer is winding down, let's just start off. Do you guys want to share something fun about your summer, Stacy? Let's start with you.

Stacy Hurst:
1:50

Oh, that's a good yeah. Okay, I think I don't know. I I mean, it's just nice to have a different change of pace, and you guys have heard me talk about that writing course that I've been able to work on this summer, and I've started to read some good books. I did not really go on any vacations, but I have spent a lot of good time with family, and just like I said, had a change of pace, which is nice. I got to sleep in a couple times, you know that kind of thing. Yeah,

Lindsay Kemeny:
2:22

I agree. The change of pace is so nice. Just a you know something different, and sleeping in, staying up late. At least for me, that's okay. Donelle, what about you? Anything stand out about your summer?

Donell Pons:
2:34

Gosh, well, people can probably tell I'm in a different place. I am visiting a grand baby who's adorable, close to two years old, and will not stop talking, which is amazing.

Lindsay Kemeny:
2:48

Love it.

Donell Pons:
2:48

Sounds great.

Lindsay Kemeny:
2:49

So fun, and we're we're like all after our podcast, we want to see the baby Donell, so she's gonna show him to us. We're excited. Awesome. Okay. Same with you, Stacy. I didn't really vacation. I did travel a lot, but for speaking, I think the thing I would share is I finished my next book. Yay! So that was that is exciting.

Stacy Hurst:
3:16

Yes. And I

Lindsay Kemeny:
3:16

guess I say finished, but we're not exactly finished. But it's in this production phase now, so it's in like just over the weekend. I was reviewing it. It was at the interior design round, the first one. So we go through several rounds of this, and so it feels really good though to be at this point. It's a little bit of a you know okay. There's still more work, but it's a little more downhill, so exciting!

Stacy Hurst:
3:41

Definite milestone.

Lindsay Kemeny:
3:43

Yeah. Okay. So today for back to school, this episode, I wanted to focus on five priorities, like five things I prioritize as I get ready for back to school, and so I thought we just kind of spend some time. These are kind of these overarching topics, and I'll mention each one. And it just kind of helps to it helps as a way to kind of frame everything I have to do because back to school is is also really stressful. Like I'm always excited; a new year is so exciting. What are my students going to be like? But it's also so much work. Okay, so my very first thing is, and and I would say I feel like these five things I'm going to share are are in order of importance in my opinion, and and the first couple I can I can start to do even before I can get into my classroom, which is great. So we are recording this on august 3, and I actually go back next week, august 13, and then my kids come august 20 as students. So the first thing is to get. To know your students, I yes every student deserves a fresh start in the classroom. Like each year, every student deserves a fresh start. But that doesn't mean I have to wear blinders, and I want as much information as I can glean about each of my students, and it's not like I am not going to let like you know. Sometimes people talk about this like they want it like a blank slate, and I am not like that. Give me all the information, and I want the previous teacher to give me all the information, but I'm not gonna. It's not gonna like skew how I feel about the student, I just think it helps me be better prepared. So you know, does the student are were there a lot of power struggles happening? I want to know that. Is the student oppositional? I want to know that because that's just going to give me more information as I first meet this student. I can be a little more intentional, or maybe careful about things I say, or you know, just handle things a little better. The more I know, so we have in our our district, we have like a kind of a like a software system. I don't know what to call it, but I can go in there and I can click on my students, and I can see all these previous like notes and interventions that the the earlier teachers may have put in, and so there might be behavior things, there's academic things, attendance things, and so I like to read through those, and it doesn't mean I'm going to have this negative view of the student. Like I, it doesn't affect me that way. It just-I really appreciate that it gives me more information about the student. So, so I look at behavior things, and I can look at behaviors. Of course, you've got to look at the health issues. So, do I have severe allergies or students with asthma, students with seizures. I can like it's it's helpful because I can do a little research on the thing if I need. Last year I had a student with brittle bone disease. Well, that really affected how I was going to set things up in my classroom and really thinking about making sure that student had safe pathways through our through our room, so like it affects a lot of things. So those health, okay. So behaviors, health, IEPs. I want to look and see my students who are on an IEP, and hey, what accommodations am I not only required to do, but it's going to help that student be safe and and supported in the classroom. And Donell, you know, as a mother, you know that is so frustrating. You know, to me, when my own son, if if his accommodations aren't being met, like it really affects him and it affects me. And so I know from personal experience how important that is. So as a teacher, I really want to make sure that I am following those accommodations.

Stacy Hurst:
8:09

I have a question, Lindsay, because when I was teaching, our special educators in our building would reach out to us before the year started and said, "Just so you know these are the students you have on IEPs. This is, you know, these are the goals and meet with this if they could. Do your special educators do that, or is it up to you to look on the the web the thing you're talking about? Yeah,

Lindsay Kemeny:
8:34

like the software, the yeah website. I almost said that. Yeah, it depends on the special education teacher, so we do have like we're required to sign it online. So I I would have to go look in regardless. I don't know if that that's probably newer. I don't think it used to be that way. So there's a

Stacy Hurst:
8:54

safeguard of like the teacher knows the teacher should know. Yeah. Okay.

Lindsay Kemeny:
8:59

Yeah, and now that you say that, actually, now I'm wondering. No, maybe I don't have to. There's certain documents I have to like. I have to acknowledge. But now that I think about it, maybe it's not the IEP at the beginning of the year. That just is if it comes up during the year, like a renewal. But otherwise, I don't think it comes up. But I can go in and I can click and I can look and see all those accommodations. So I always do that,

Stacy Hurst:
9:27

and you can see their goals and everything. You can see the actual IEP. Okay, that's good.

Lindsay Kemeny:
9:33

Yeah. So and then academic things. I look at their end of year test scores in Acadians, and so I look at that. I look how many students were, you know, on benchmark above, below, or well below, and so I start. I kind of I can start grouping my students a little. So, I'm going to use this information. So, I'm going to use this information to create my seating charts to start an initial plan for small groups. Even though it's going to change because once I get my, we do our beginning of the year data, get that in, get our assessment, get that in. I'm going to adjust things, but it's really nice to have an idea right away because I know if they were struggling at the end of kindergarten, they're going to be struggling most likely at the beginning of the year. And so I, how I like, I put the kids that are going to need more support from me in certain spots in my room, so like they're in the front row and we're on the carpet, you know, the rug, or when we're at our desks, I put them in in intentional spots that I can get to really easily, and then I try to pair them with someone that is, you know, a little bit stronger. So I I kind of think about that. So I use the end of year data to start right away with that plan, and then I can adjust it. Right, nothing's like set in stone. Yeah, which

Stacy Hurst:
11:10

you're you're really getting a jump start on the instruction too, which I know. Like, and to scale this idea, and of course, this is from my experience decade or so ago, that we did that schoolwide, so we didn't wait to start intervention groups in our tier model. We just kept the information from the year before, and like you say, it does adjust. But otherwise, we were six weeks into the school year before we were starting those intervention groups. But you can get you can get started right away, and I love that you're doing that in your classroom. Yeah,

Lindsay Kemeny:
11:44

yeah, and you so you don't have to wait to be like, oh, you kind of know the kids that will be on your radar right away. Or I can also see if they have if like the teacher has put in little academic interventions that she's done in the last year. So maybe they're not on IEP weren't tested, but the teacher was concerned, and I see that note. Okay, then I know just right away that student can be on my radar, and I'm watching to see how they're responding to my instruction to see if hey, do we need to do more? So it's just so helpful. So like I said, everyone deserves a fresh start, but we don't need to wear blinders. Give me all the information, and it's not going to negatively impact my view of the student. Even when I hear like, and I have had teachers, you know, a a teacher who who kind of complains about a certain student, or that's the hardest student I've ever had, or you know, whatever, and it hasn't. There's been plenty of times where that hasn't been the case for me. You know what I mean? And I know that just all all kids are going to respond differently to different situations and classroom setups and teachers and all the other things. So I just think it's helpful to have all that information.

Donell Pons:
12:57

Yeah,

Lindsay Kemeny:
12:58

and then I'm going to get more information as the school year goes by. So, back to school night, I have my parents fill out a parent form that talks about the students. You know, so they're going to share more once I'm talking to the kids, and I'm so excited when I get to meet them, see what they like, what they don't like, just their little personalities are so fun to get to know, and then of course, like once we start our beginning of year testing and all of that. So, any other comments on that's my first priority is getting to know the student.

Donell Pons:
13:35

Yeah, I think that's interesting because it flips a little bit as they get older. So that middle high school, there isn't so much intentionality by teachers finding out about students. It more becomes the job of the student. For the responsibility falls more on them. And what I think is interesting, I've been encouraging some of my students to use ChatGPT to help them form emails to reach out to teachers prior if they have concerns about a class or something, and they have found that really useful. They'll put enough information in there about you know I'm starting seventh grade. This is going to be my English teacher. I'm worried about these certain things, and it helps them formulate an email, and then they read over it and see if oh yeah that works. Maybe I want to change this, but that's been really helpful because that can be daunting. That communication piece can be very daunting, and having that load lifted a little bit by using ChatGPT to help them formulate a new conversation they might be having with a teacher that's new for them, and so we've used some of those tools that way, and that's a really positive experience also with technology, and it's interesting because I think you want to start those conversations junior and high school because by college it is fully on the student, and that can be a really challenging thing when they get into college if they haven't been having those conversations. And I always encourage my students, like you said, Lindsay. Everybody gets a fresh start. You're not giving information to a teacher to say I'm incapable. You're saying I'm capable. Here's how I can. Really shine in your classroom. That's what you explain to students, and when they see it that way, it's like, oh, okay, that's right. So remember, if I didn't have my glasses, I wouldn't be nearly the student I can be with my glasses on. The teacher needs to know that, and so you encourage them to frame it that way, and it helps. But I think it's interesting you're talking about when you start out with the youngers, and the teacher really is involved in finding out information about the student, and then that may shift for some of our students as they get older and they advocate.

Lindsay Kemeny:
15:27

You know, I love that you brought that up because just thinking about my son with dyslexia, it is such a burden for him. Every semester, he feels like he has to be the one to teach the teacher about students with dyslexia, or you know how important accommodations are, which they you know should know. And so, but what you said about teaching your the students that you work with and your tutoring, and teaching them really to advocate for themselves through an email before school even starts, and using ChatGPT to help them with that wording, I I like that because I think to this point it's usually it's usually me. I will send an email out to my son's teachers now that he's in you know he's in high school, so I did this in junior high and and last year in his sophomore year, saying, "Hey, these are his accommodations. But it's such a good point that I should make him do that. Like I should have that email come from him, and I can help him. But it's part of that me. I need to more and more step back and let him take the lead.

Donell Pons:
16:38

Yeah, and it's oh

Stacy Hurst:
16:41

no, go ahead, Donna. I was just going

Donell Pons:
16:43

to say it's not nearly so daunting with ChatGPT too, because that I had to realize that can be a real burden for someone where language is difficult. You've worked really hard at this; it's a whole new conversation. Not sure how to frame it. You're speaking with an adult. Those things can really impact how difficult it becomes to write that email. And I need to acknowledge that there's a way to make this a little bit easier, and in fact, maybe a little enjoyable. Some of my students really enjoy the way they're able to tailor make an email using ChatGPT help, and they're like, "Wow, that really explains it well. I like the way that was said. So that's kind of fun too.

Unknown:
17:16

Yeah, yeah.

Stacy Hurst:
17:17

I was just thinking from my perspective too when you were talking about that, Donell. What a great like segue for a student doing it totally independently. And many of you listening may or may not know that once a student gets to college, it is literally illegal for parents to communicate with professors and for professors to communicate back to parents, so it is when you say it's on them, it is 100% on them. So I think that's probably a really good way to help them kind of ramp up to that. Actually, yeah,

Lindsay Kemeny:
17:57

yeah, and it's intimidating to you know reach and and especially beginning of the year, you don't know the teacher yet. But but how great to kind of point out those things before it's a problem because we've had to do it after it's a problem and it's awkward because then you don't want to be accusing the teacher. You still want to have this really positive, you know, like relationship with them, and you know, and you're tempted to be like, "What the heck? He's not supposed to be required to take notes during the video because he can't pay attention, you know, or whatever. Yeah, like, have you lived

Stacy Hurst:
18:29

those accommodations? Yeah,

Lindsay Kemeny:
18:31

so kind of nice to like before that. Hey, let me let me introduce myself to you, and this is what's so important for me in your class, and you know,

Stacy Hurst:
18:40

and Lindsay, just before we go on, too, I'm putting my first grade teacher hat on, and you said you have parents fill out a form. If I were teaching first grade, I'd probably want to know what's on that form. What do you ask them?

Lindsay Kemeny:
18:53

Oh, yeah. There's things like what motivates them, what upsets them. That's kind of nice because sometimes you find out something that upsets them, and then it's just good, you know, to have a heads up, or like if they're, you know, whatever. So, and then, you know, their interests, the parent's goal-that's always really interesting. Like, what the parent is hoping that they'll learn that year, or you know, their goal for their child that year, which is is always interesting. I feel like it's usually about reading, which of course, like for first grade. But sometimes you can kind of see, or they'll let you know we've struggled with this. We don't know what to do, and it's like, okay, I already know that you know that's so great. When I see a struggle, then I can oh, they address that, so I know that this isn't going to be a shock to them, but you know, whatever. So just things like that. Siblings in the same school that they have, you know, that kind of.

Stacy Hurst:
19:49

Oh, I love that. That is really helpful. I do remember on my form for parents, I had read some research, so I put this on my form that said,"How many books would you say you have in your home?" And I gave a range, and the the way that lined up with the students who did and didn't need intervention was really amazing. Following the research, yeah, I feel like that might be a little-I don't know-maybe a little intrusive right now because a lot of people don't like they might have an e-reader with books or whatever, but it was very interesting.

Lindsay Kemeny:
20:25

Yeah, and and like certain things, it's just nice over the summer to have time sometimes to think about something. Like when I had the student with brittle bone disease, I really wanted to have time to look up as much as I can. Or I had a student with select mutism, same thing. Or if you have a student with oppositional defiance disorder, it's just I like to to be able to really kind of let things marinate, read some articles, think about it before it's all like crazy back to school time. So I I like that I can get access to my list maybe a couple weeks early and just start you know just start thinking about all those things and how I can best support them. All right. So second priority. Okay. So first

priority:
21:10

getting to know your students. Second priority for me is to plan my content. So I plan my first day, so I love. I have like look. I have my planner right here. I already have it all. I have my first day sketched out and my first week. I actually did the first couple weeks because I don't know. I'm a planner, I guess. So my like, there is so much you pack into that first day, but I have to like I have to not only think about what I am doing, but how we're transitioning, and you know, especially with first grade, you can't just sit there like forever on the carpet going through all your rules. But you've got to kind of think about what am I doing. I'm going to introduce the song, and then we're then I'm going to explain myself. We're going to talk about carpet expectations for sitting on the carpet. Then it's been a while, so we've got to move. So now we're gonna. I'm gonna go through bathroom expectations right away, and we're gonna walk down to the bathroom, and I'm gonna have everyone go to the bathroom, and we're gonna talk about that. And and while we're doing that, we're gonna also be talking about how we line up, how we walk down the hall, how we come back, then how we sit down. Then I'm going to do another thing. Where you know where we're going to now we're going to talk about our normal rules. I'm going to read them. David goes to school. We're going to talk about the rules. Then we're going to do a transition and talk about how to go to our desks. And so, anyways, just really, there's so much to think about because you have to set up your procedures and your routines and talk about rules. And you want to get to know them, and you want them to get to know you. So I really want to make sure I have my strong first day plan and my first week plan. I do teach content from the beginning, so sometimes there are people that are like, "What? No content for two weeks? And I kind of am like, what in the world are you doing then all day week? So we're just doing get to know you and how to color and how to work with our supplies the whole time because I feel like I don't know I don't know how that works. So I do do content, but it slows down, and then I'm teaching the routines and the procedures through that normal content or lesson that we're going to be doing all year. Do you know what I mean? So, take my phonics lesson. Yes, I'm going to start with letter A right away, but that has slowed down because my my program is like our phonics program at our school district might have um like I think it has a group of letters for for like it's like six letters at a time, but most of my students coming in they need a review of the alphabet. A lot of them, if they know their alphabet, there aren't they aren't forming it correctly. Most of them always, you know, have don't form the letters accurately, and so I slow things down and do a letter a day at the beginning of the year. But it's also where I'm building in our routines and our procedures. So I'm teaching that here's what we do, and here's our little song we do, and then we move to our desks, and we get out our whiteboards. Let's talk about the whiteboard materials. You know, is that you build that in, or here's like our handwriting page, and then here's where we turn them in. But we're doing that with the letter A page that we just did, and you, you know. So I'm just setting up all those expectations through the normal lesson for our. I'll just go through the bulk of my literacy block. So, like we have phonics, we then, which I just described, we have our close reading, and we're we're doing fairy tale, or yeah, I think it's fairy tales at the beginning of the year. So I'm going to be teaching a little, you know, a little fairy tale. We're going to do. Some retell, and so that is an easy introduction. Like we're usually coloring little puppet things that go with the story I just read aloud. Like the boy who cried wolf is one of the first ones, and then we make the little puppets. Then we retell it, which is good for the oral language. So I can build in little routines while we do that for writing. I do a pretest, get a writing sample from them. I've got to set up those expectations. Let them know this is this is just so I know what to teach you. It's okay if you don't know how to write yet. You know, one year or last year, I had a student that just wrote, copied the alphabet because that's all she could do. Another year, I had student that just did little scribbles. It's fine, whatever you can do. I just want to see, and then setting up my centers. So those of you have read Rock Your Literacy Block, no, I'm just kind of going through those. The centers, I I I start those just one a day, add another. Maybe I spend two days on one because we've got to talk about the expectations, and this is how we handle this material and all this, and we do it slow. But my goal is to get that done in a week or two, so that I can start my small groups. So yeah, so just yes to planning out your content. Don't leave that to the last second because it's so important, and I really like teaching content from the beginning. Slowed down building in the routines and procedures. So, any comments?

Donell Pons:
26:29

You know, and Lindsay, what's interesting is I'm just thinking to myself that's another flip for older students, for middle, high school, and college. Is my I always encourage my students to get the syllabus for a class, teachers should have it, and then we highlight the big things that are coming, so that you have a vision forward for either it's you know whether it's broken up into a semester or a quarter, so that we can see where the challenges will be, and you kind of map that out like oh it's going to get tough three weeks from now you're going to have this and then we get a little lull and then we're going to have another, and then I also plan my support accordingly to say, "Hey, would that be a time that maybe we should prepare a little bit for this, and maybe we can try working on a few of the sentence producers that would get us to that paragraph that gets us to that paper? We'll talk a little bit about that, and then there's that preparation gives them a visual to kind of see where they're going, so they need it as much as the younger students do, and then I was also thinking about our college students because it really does come on them. They may have a job, they may be managing living on their own for the first time, and so being prepared for what's coming during that term for more than one class that is a lot to manage as well. And so we talk a lot about schedule at the beginning for a college student, particularly in that first year, and even if they transition to a graduate program, we talk about how that looks different now that you're in a graduate program. So again, it's that it's it's interesting you're talking about these things because they're things that we will do throughout our academic careers, no matter how old we get.

Narrator:
27:59

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28:11

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Lindsay Kemeny:
28:38

It's so funny. So I do have, you know, I have two sons in college. One is just starting; he'll be a freshman, and I found I was just going through cleaning out some things last week, and I found this schedule that I had written of my own, and it was when I was in college, and I was like, "Look at me! I was like, "Lindsay's schedule, you know, eight a.m. This 830. Go jogging back, and then whatever. It went through the whole day, and I had in there these scheduled blocks of time for my studying. And so it was like four to six, study with Bev, who was one of my roommates, and then it was like 6o'clock, go get pizza. 7o'clock, back to studying, and I was like, "Look at us! We were so productive. So I showed that to my son. I'm like, "Be like me. Make sure you schedule your study sessions. You can't just like procrastinate like you did in high school. Make sure you schedule it in. So Donell, I like how you're saying you have your students look through that syllabus, looking ahead. Oh, this three weeks is going to be a little stressful. Like, let's make sure that we are careful with our time and how we're, you know, allotting, uh, you know, what we're scheduling that week, so you have time to really focus on your classes and you know all the things. How great!

Stacy Hurst:
29:55

Which is good advice for any student in junior high or high school. Because again, I have many students who don't have those skills, and they become very quickly overwhelmed. Whether they struggle academically or not, it's a lot to manage. So that's a good way to wrap it up. And Lindsay, I have also found my old-they were Franklin planners. Let's name it. It was the thing at the time, yeah. I didn't have a minute that wasn't scheduled. To be honest, like it made me tired just looking at it and thinking, "Wow, why am I not organized now?

Lindsay Kemeny:
30:33

I needed a planner because this was just on a loose leaf sheet of paper. I had written out like my, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, that's so funny! Yeah, definitely needed that planner. Okay, so on to the third priority. The third priority for me is communication. So I want to think about how I'm communicating both with my students and their families. So I have you know my welcome email, which actually is going out today because today is when our parents and families get like the class list, so they know who who gets what teacher. And so I'm going to send that out today. Welcome back to school. I have two attachments. I have a back to school. I mean, I have a welcome letter that I ask them to read to their first grader, and then I have a visual supply list. So it is not just the supplies, but it's like actually I put in the picture of like the exact kind of expo whiteboard markers that we would use, the thin ones, you know, in black because the other ones don't erase on our whiteboards. So anyway, so I just have the pictures and they can print it out. I used to mail it, but our school now won't pay for the postage, and postage has gone up. So now I'm like, I am just emailing it. So not as fun as mailing, but it's just more practical. So I I send that out in an email as well as the information for our back to school night. Sometimes I have links to for volunteering or or I just have physical signups at back to school night, and I also send out in this email a little a video a link to a video I made with reading tips for their child. So, so I have all that in one email, and then I have to get ready thinking about that communication or that connection because that's what this one this priority is all about. But I think about back to school night, and I got to get set up for that. So our back to school night is a couple days before school starts, so I have to create. I create a little scavenger hunt where they're going to like go around the room with their parent or caregiver when they come, having all the sheets. I have a folder with like disclosure or you know class disclosure, like permission slips, like all the stuff, and then I have a table with our volunteer signups. So I have to get all of that stuff ready. And so, anyway, I just thought that all goes back to that communication and that connection, which is what this this category is all about.

Donell Pons:
33:18

And you know, Lindsay, I think that's so interesting and really important. And as students age, again, they're driving a lot of that. Right by middle school, high school, they're stepping into those roles. By college, it's all you, as we've talked about. And I think what's interesting with the communication, you talk about the different ways that students can communicate with others, and we talk about that in tutoring too, because oftentimes there can be word finding difficulties for some students orally when they get under stress and it becomes harder to find the words they want to say. So they find themselves not doing that. They also find it difficult sometimes to write emails and and you know have them formed in the right way. They're worried about how they'll be perceived. So we've talked about how using we use ChatGPT for some of that, and then additionally, I think it's interesting that we talk about ways in which they can communicate with peer, peer to peer, to make sure you've at least found one person that you can talk to about. Did I miss an assignment? And we start that junior high, so they get really used to it. By high school, they're totally into it. By college, it's not a problem at all. They're doing that in all their classes. Just make sure you find at least one person. So if you need to reach out and say, "Did I get that right? Is that due today? You can ask. And then additionally, how are you going to talk to your professor? And usually, a lot of students will say, "Well, I sent that email about some of the things that'll make it easier for me in the class. But I feel like that's all I have. That's the only contact, and I'm not sure how else to talk to my professor, and oftentimes I'll say, "Well, if you really enjoyed a lecture, you could reach out and say, 'Hey, I really enjoyed that lecture. Do you have some additional material I could look at myself?' And they're always like, "Oh, I didn't even think about that. That it doesn't have to be something like that. It can simply be, 'Hey, I really enjoyed that. And boy, I've had a few students. Who found that so useful because they said that broke the ice, and I found myself actually developing a kind of relationship with a professor for the first time because I just didn't know how to do that. Yeah, and I would say

Stacy Hurst:
35:10

too that in the higher ed setting we have office hours. Take advantage of those. Have your make sure your students like your students dialog as you do this, but really go into the office hour at the beginning of the semester. Introduce themselves. Like we love that stuff, and that's not something we can always control, right? Whether a student comes around, especially I think that's especially important if you're an online student. Connect with your professor outside of the class, and maybe during their office hours, that makes a big difference.

Lindsay Kemeny:
35:47

Such an important point. And then, as like lower grade teachers, the way I can think about that is also you don't want to be the time that you're always communicating with a parent is because there was a problem. By the way, this happened today, and today he, you know, so and so pushed someone at recess, whatever. So building in that communication, just of course the general emails like I'm I'm sharing. I do this welcome email, and then throughout the year I do a weekly. I try to do a weekly email. Sometimes I miss letting them know what we're going to do, what we're focusing on that week, but additionally, if you can set aside time for maybe every week to send a couple positive emails home, that's always really nice for that connection with parents, so that it's not so out of the blue when suddenly you have to email them for something, you know, concerning.

Stacy Hurst:
36:42

So. key, and I actually give this advice to my pre-service teachers. And like you said, Lindsay, you've done your homework, so you know the students who are most likely to have behavior issues, or you know things that you might need to be prepared for. Those are the very parents you need to be reaching out to before something happens, and so I would make this. This is my advice, and this is what I did as a teacher. You had a lead. I had a leader of the day every day, and I would make within the first week of school. Well, initially, actually, I would reach out to those parents who did not hear good things about their children often was something good, and it was always it went a long way because you know you can tell right away they're not used to those phone calls. But I literally made a list, and then after that, when they were the leader of the day, because as you know, you rotate, so students get multiple chances at that throughout the year. Then I would just make it a note of my for me to reach out to that parent with something positive. So you're doing that throughout the year, really made it very nice when you do have something that you have to address that's not so fun that they felt like you were already on their team that you're seeing their child the way they do, you know. So, yeah, I think that's great.

Lindsay Kemeny:
38:05

I think that's such good advice, and really like connecting it with like I told you, I was getting to know all about the students. So I've I've seen a lot of they could just even put in emails that they've had to send home in that little system that I was telling you about. So I I could totally, Stacy. Now I kind of want to go make a list of the ones that I have a lot of those negative emails home, and then that first week I want to send something like, "Wow, this I can tell it's going to be great year. Your student did this and this and this, and just point out those good things. That's going to help because the parents. I mean, you know, even if like you want them talking positively about you at home, and they might not always do that, but when they say, "Oh, and you know, they're going to tell their student, their child, I got a oh, I got an email from your teacher. Oh, she really likes you, you know, or something. That's gonna that's gonna go a long way. So I think, anyways, I'm glad you said that, Stacy. Connect connecting it with like all that information I have about the students that makes so much sense. I got to prioritize them the first couple weeks of school maybe to send something home. And then I always like when I meet a student, especially if it's someone who has a lot of behavior challenging behaviors in the past, where you want to point you point out something they're doing good right away, and then you know I always kind of like act like you know that student's like my little buddy. Like wow, that was you are so helpful. I can tell you're just going to be my you know one of my most helpful students, aren't you? You are just my little buddy. Thank you so much. You know or whatever, just to set that. So they've got to. They're gonna now. They wanna. They don't wanna let you down because they're like, oh my gosh, my teacher likes me. And I've had students before where they have been beaten down, and so you know that's yeah, that's awesome. Okay, should we go to four category four? So to recap. We had getting to know your student. We had planning your content. We talked about connecting both with your student and with families, and the fourth area is finally managing your room and your supplies. So now this is the room setup. So a lot of times this is where people go first, planning this. But I think those other three things are more of the priority and like more important to me. Of course, though we have to get our room set up. So now this is all the

things:
40:32

name tags, folders, laminating, pencil boxes, getting the supplies. You know, arrange. How are you going to arrange your room? Is it going to be different than last year or the same? And then I would recommend actually walking through, like think of the flow. How do students get their materials? Where do they go when they go here? How do they line up? Is it you know is there anything in the way? So think about that physical flow of the classroom and where students go, where you're keeping things, your display, your bulletin boards up, your technology. I've got to get all that set up. I got to get the passwords. I got to print out something with the passwords. This is this is all the things. This is like really the stressful. But also, some teachers, it's like what they're so excited about because they love decorating. Like I'm not one of those. I'm not very talented in that area. But yeah, thinking about the room, thinking about your students. So this is you know I I kind of told you already. I start planning where they're going to sit, but sometimes extra things I know about the student is really going to determine where they sit. If I have a student who's really hyperactive and moves a lot, then when we're sitting on the rug, I want to put them a little more on the edge. Or if they have an attention problem, hard time focusing, I want to put them somewhere where I can be right there, keep reminding them and helping them stay on track. Like I said, I had you know health concerns. I had a student with brittle bone disease. Where is she going to be? That safe? That isn't going to involve her tripping over people to try to get to the center, right? I needed her like on the edge, or you know, I had I had a student one year that had epilepsy, and so where you know if he has a seizure, what happens, and where is the best place for him? There, so all all kinds of different things to think about.

Stacy Hurst:
42:25

I was laughing when you said that that's not your thing. It wasn't mine either. And I always had these colleagues that were creating these bulletin boards that could have been in magazines. And I will tell you though, one thing I had the biggest room. We had lots of like bulletin board space, so I think we've already talked about this. I have I had a fantastic word wall, unfortunately. But one thing that I did is that I left a blank bulletin board in my classroom, and then I would monthly assign a group of students to decorate it, and they had the best time, and it was their work and their idea. And of course, I supported them in whatever they wanted to put up there, but it really helped make the room theirs too. So if you get to the down to the wire and there's one bulletin board you haven't done yet, there you go.

Lindsay Kemeny:
43:19

Yeah, well, and it's good to have blank at the beginning because, like, I'll have I'll put a little sign that says like "Amazing work coming soon" because it's going to be where we display student work, right? The hardest thing for me is the bulletin in the hallway because everyone changes. So I would be totally fine with here's our bulletin board for like the season, but everyone in my hall they like it's a new month, and they're like a new cute bulletin board that goes with the you know with the holiday or with the month or whatever, and so it's like peer pressure because now I'm like, oh my gosh, I have to change it again. Parent

Stacy Hurst:
43:51

helpers, Lindsay, parent helpers,

Lindsay Kemeny:
43:54

yeah. Don't know what were you gonna say? Yeah,

Donell Pons:
43:57

just that the that again for older students thinking about that it's okay for them to advocate for being comfortable in their learning space, and that's not something that students know on their own oftentimes. And so there might be a room that it's always cold or it's always too warm, and it's okay to ask and to say, "I think it's a little warm in here. Is there some place I could sit where it's more cool, or do we have a fan? And starting that early for students that check to see if you're physically comfortable. I mean, we obviously know that it is important for students to have their needs met, right? We've talked about this before with different theorists about having a student's needs met and how important those are, and they're on a scale. But physical needs and being physically comfortable is important, and so helping students understand that it's okay to advocate for that. The other thing is, is it too bright? Can we have it not so bright? If a light is flickering and the sound is bothering, particularly a student that maybe has ADHD, and that is absolutely bothersome, it's okay to say. So here's the thing: you give them words to be able to. These things, so then you don't get behaviors that are behaviors as a result of not being comfortable in a space, and so typically that's what happens. And so we'll have upfront conversations, my students, with how are you in your physical space in your classroom? Are you ever uncomfortable? What makes you uncomfortable? Are you ever distracted? What makes you distracted in that space? And then when you find out these things, the kids always have a list. Oh, there was this. I was sitting under a light. The light flickered the whole time. It was. Can you imagine if attention is difficult and you're placed under and you're in a math class that's hard anyway? So we have these conversations that it's okay to say that light's really bothering me. What's interesting is they typically don't have any pushback from teachers because teachers aren't used to students advocating and saying that light's really bothering me. What they get usually is behavior, some outburst or something. So that's been really interesting. Is the feedback from students later to say, you know, what my teacher said? Thank you for telling them about the light because no one had told them. So I'm I think that's interesting, and it goes for college students as well because oftentimes professors might be using a room just for an hour a day and not realize how uncomfortable some of those parts of the room are. So that's a good thing to tell students too.

Lindsay Kemeny:
46:09

Good for my son, though. I have to be like, it's not. It's not just about comfort. It's about where do you learn best.

Donell Pons:
46:18

Yeah, because that involves your learning.

Lindsay Kemeny:
46:21

He has on his IEP preferential seating, which generally means he needs to be sitting up close to the front. He hates that because he wants to just be under the radar in the back. He can get on a game. He can do. You know, he he doesn't want the teacher to be aware of him, and so he keeps like every year. He's like, "We need to take this off, and I know take that off. And I'm like, "No,

Donell Pons:
46:48

that's so good.

Lindsay Kemeny:
46:50

But it reminded me just another thing. As as teachers think about the room setup, you want to think about when you are in teaching in front of the class. What do the students have to do? Is their back to you? Because you know I like to have all my desks facing forward, so no one has to turn around. But if you have tables, then you're a little more limited. So, is there a way you can arrange the tables where they're a little more on an angle? Or if not, like when I taught kindergarten, we had tables, and they had to be, you know, the certain way. And so I just I had to teach my students. Oh, listening position meant they flipped all the way around in their chair, and they would just kind of straddle the chair and turn all the way. And and then I had to think about students who could handle doing that. Yeah, turn around and then turn back. Turn around and then turn back. So just thinking about that to where they're sitting, and it kind of goes to that being comfortable and also how they learn best and

Stacy Hurst:
47:46

distractions. Right, I started out teaching first grade with desks, learned very quickly. That was probably not the best thing for my students' attention. They were always in their desk. They were always like so enamored with the idea of a desk. So I went to tables for that reason, and I felt like that worked better too. So I love my

Lindsay Kemeny:
48:06

desks. I love my desk in first grade. Everything is there, but you do have to teach them not to like be blank, and they can't bring the stuff from home. Like sometimes they want their parents get them these really elaborate things, like all these different marker colors and this cute little container, and blah blah blah, and I'm like, that is so fun. You could keep that at home. Send it right back because that's just going to be a distraction here. Okay, we're ready for the last one. Number five. Number five is to do something fun to celebrate, or just something fun for you as you're ready for back to school. It was so much work. All those other four categories that I shared, there are so many little things in each of them. That is just a lot of work. So I'd say, do something fun. I like to go get my nails done, and I get like back to school art on them, so I'll get like an apple and notebook paper or whatever. I'll probably do that same thing again this year. You maybe it's going out to dinner as a family before everyone starts. You know, whatever. Just do something fun to kind of celebrate. Maybe get a new outfit. Get a new outfit for the first day of school. Maybe I'm going to do that one too. So just something to celebrate. It's it's it's it's a big deal.

Donell Pons:
49:26

Yeah, it is. It's really big deal. What's interesting, Lindsay, is that most of my students will do that at the end of the first week, and we'll have a little get together. There's a treat usually involved, of course, because I love a good treat. But usually, it's a little conversation about what were some great things. What were some challenging things, and what are you looking forward in the next week? And so, checking in also with your student after the first week to see how it's going is a good idea.

Lindsay Kemeny:
49:48

Oh, that's a fun idea. You know, I could do as a family, and we go out and we kind of

Stacy Hurst:
49:53

yeah

Lindsay Kemeny:
49:54

maybe talk a little bit more about their first week, and yeah, that's fun.

Stacy Hurst:
49:58

Highs and lows. That's always fun. So, getting ready for a school year in a higher ed level, some of these things are very similar. Other things are very different, as you can imagine. But the getting to know your students part, this is not assumed. There are probably a lot of professors who just get the year started, right? But I do. We do have access to their names and faces, I have limited information about my students, especially in that first class that I have them. But I, some professors I've seen do name plates, so that every class period they have their name plates. I actually don't do that. I think that's a good idea, but I make it a point to memorize the names of my students and refer to them by name, so I will actually memorize their faces with their names when I have their picture on my roll, and that goes a that goes a long way. But it does take me. I mean, I literally have hundreds of students every semester, but luckily, out of the three literacy classes I teach. The first one is the hardest because then you get you know I have to just do more to learn their names. But the other two, it's more of just remembering who they are, especially if they've taken a break from from school or something. And then planning content is something that this is what I love about teaching college compared to when I was an elementary school teacher, because I was always throughout the whole year of teaching first grade making notes about oh I want to change this next year change this next year, but you don't get back to it for a year, right? But in college you have semesters, and so the turnaround is a lot quicker. So I feel like I can make changes, and I was talking to a group of my friends who also teach college just today, actually, and they were saying that we do have the luxury of updating our content frequently because we want it to match the most recent research. And so I'd like to say we are always doing that, but the beginning of the academic year is a good time to revisit those things, and then it is. We also get information from our about our students who have accommodations. So, as those roll in, I really do make note of those and make sure that I'm providing those. And I, I will say, and Donell, you probably know this about your work with teachers and professors in higher ed. So I, my students seem surprised when I acknowledge that I know their accommodations. So if they're not communicating them directly to me or to a professor, maybe professors, you know, I mean there are so many things we have to focus on. So, I think it is a good idea for the student to reach out to the professor to talk to them about that. Even though we do get notified,

Donell Pons:
52:49

yeah, you do get notified, but it but it always helps for that student to reach out, like you're saying.

Stacy Hurst:
52:54

Yeah, for sure. And then taking advantage of those office hours matter too. Yeah, it is really it's an exciting time of year, but Donell and Lindsay, as you've been talking,

maybe I'll just ask a question:
53:07

What were you like as children when the first of the school year was upon

Lindsay Kemeny:
53:16

us? Oh, I was always so excited. I mean, I lay out my first day outfit, my new backpack, my sharpened pencils, the new supplies-loved it. I was always excited.

Stacy Hurst:
53:28

Me too. Actually, it was more exciting for me than something like Christmas Eve, or it was just the best. I was so excited. Donell, I think you were similar.

Donell Pons:
53:39

Yeah, but what was interesting is the teacher was always really important to me. Like who the teacher was going to be, and it was important to me to find out who it was before I got to school. And I would be really excited if it was someone that I had heard really good things about, and I would be really really excited. But then I'd be nervous if it was a teacher that maybe somebody didn't enjoy. That would make you nervous. So the teacher really mattered to me.

Stacy Hurst:
54:00

That's really important, you know. My fourth grade teacher every Halloween. I know you're going to think this isn't related. It is. He would dress like Ichabod Crane until it was lunchtime, and then he was the headless horseman. And this is back when we could do these things, but that terrified me. Halloween was not my favorite, and I did not want him as a fourth grade teacher solely because of that, because I did not want the headless horseman to be my teacher, and you know I got him. You know that somebody in the office heard me say it and said that's her teacher. He is one of my favorite to this day. It was amazing, but I see what you're saying, Donell. That teacher, yeah, that's really cool that you were thinking that way. The other thing that I wanted to mention, kind of flipping that, because I feel like many people who go into teaching feel that way about school, but and especially Donell and Lindsay, as you talk about your son too, like we need to think there are students who do not look forward to. This time of year, that they have as high as our excitement may our excitement was, their anxiety is and their dread, and so I love that you take the time to get to know your students ahead of time, Lindsay, so you can kind of help address those those things. That's really yeah,

Lindsay Kemeny:
55:16

and that's my own children are dreading it, and my son is dreading it. I'm like, you know, my daughter keeps saying, "Stop saying the S word, mom. Meaning school. Not everyone is excited, but yeah. Well, that just

Stacy Hurst:
55:30

means you've made summer extra fun for them too. I don't know about that. Yeah, that's awesome. Great conversation today, Lindsay. Thanks for those five areas. So,

just to recap:
55:44

get to know your student, plan your content,

communicate, connect. Same one:
55:47

managing room and supplies, and then something fun. Yeah, do something.

Unknown:
55:58

Yeah,

Stacy Hurst:
56:00

that's a good. You know what? That is absolutely the one I don't

Unknown:
56:04

do

Stacy Hurst:
56:04

intentionally plan. But yeah, you've inspired me. Do it.

Lindsay Kemeny:
56:08

Yeah, do it. Even if it's just going and getting, you know, a so like a drink or dessert or something. Yeah, something.

Stacy Hurst:
56:15

Well, I do have a good friend. We've been friends for a long time. We both teach, and we have come. Actually, it's the night before school starts. We call it Fat Tuesday, no matter what day it is, because we have ice cream, we have sugar, and then we don't eat sugar clear until Halloween. So that's kind of our last hurrah. But I don't know. The older we get, the more I'm like, that means I start my day one with a total sugar hangover. It's not great, so I might have to rethink that something fun. That's going to be a good idea. Okay, any other tips or pointers for our listeners?

Lindsay Kemeny:
56:56

I don't think so. You can do it. You got this.

Stacy Hurst:
56:59

Yeah, I'm excited. I'm starting. I don't start for a whole other month, but I am starting to think of, you know, that excitement is building, and so yeah, listeners have a great school year, and just take whatever time is left in your summer to be prepared because that's always going to make the year a lot easier, and then do something fun. And join us for the next episode of Literacy Talks, where we will talk more about literacy. Of course, happy first of the school year!

Narrator:
57:38

Thanks for joining us today. Literacy Talks comes to you from Reading Horizons, where literacy momentum begins. Visit readinghorizons.com/literacytalks to access episodes and resources to support your journey in the science of reading.